TUESDAY, 4.00PM
AS peace talks between Congolese President Pascal Lissouba and his rival and predecessor Denis Sassou Nguesso in the Gabonese capital Libreville bogged down on Tuesday, Lissouba’s supporters, emboldened by Monday’s extension of the president’s mandate, called for a “general mobilisation” against the militia of Sassou Nguesso.
A representative of Lissouba’s 16-party support base asked the Congolese people to “mobilise to defend democracy and constitutional legality” after the constitutional council ruled on Monday to postpone elections and extend Lissouba’s mandate until a successor is voted in.
In a statement over state radio, the Lissouba alliance spokesman Joseph Gamandzori asked the government of Prime Minister David Charles Ganao to “take the necessary steps to restore the authority of the state and to get public administrations and businesses back to work.”
Meanwhile, negotiators for Lissouba and former dictator Sassou Nguesso failed to narrow differences over an agenda for the talks in Libreville, which began last Friday in a bid to end six weeks of fighting in Brazzaville. Lissouba’s side insists that talks focus only on enforcing the ceasefire and deploying a peacekeeping force, while the other side wants discussion of a two-year interim government.
The day after the constitutional council’s move appeared to complicate the peace process, state attorney Pierre Mabiala threw more cold water on the talks by stating that they have no further purpose. In an interview on state radio Tuesday, Mabiala said the council had made a watershed decision. “The crisis is resolved,” he said, adding that now the “government and the political class [must] agree to set a new date for the presidential election.”
Rebel Radio Libert, however, questioned the legality of the council, charging that some of its members had been named by parliament without a quorum. “The council has made an illegal decision because it is itself illegal,” the radio said.
The conflict in Brazzaville has claimed between 1 000 and 2 000 lives since it erupted on June 5 when government forces tried to disarm Sassou Nguesso’s militia ahead of the presidential vote, originally set for July 27.